United Armenia

Fritzchen

Banned

United Armenia
Miatsyal Hayastan


by Michael Preis



What if … the Armenian genocide had not been what it was in the OTL: a Turkish success? The Turks and their Kurdish accomplices bled Armenia nearly to death and could finally mutilate her to a territory around Yerevan – about a tenth of historic Armenia.
This OTL – scenario was, like so many others, not determinate at all. When the Turks attacked Armenia in late 1920 the Armenians - respectively the ruling Dashnaks - did them the favour to cling to the hope of Allied aid and to defend desperately an independence, after 543 years without an Armenian state, they couldn´t maintain against superior enemy forces. If they had confessed this to themselves and if they had sacrificed the interest of their party for the nation´s one - and had been as lucky as the Turks were in the OTL while doing this - the outcome might have been different with the saving of a united, yet not independent Armenia. If on the other hand the Turks had failed to crush the project of a united Armenia the effects not only on Armenia but also on Greece, Pontus and Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon and the British – Turkish relations would have been not such pleasant for them.
The following AH reports about this scenario in the sketch of a timeline.



THE FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
10/30/18 Armistice in Mudros.
11/13/18 Allied forces occupy Constantinople.
5/15/19 Greeks occupy Smyrna.
5/19/19 Kemal Pasha lands in Samsun.
2/10/20 French retreat from Cilicia starts.
4/27-28/20 Red Army occupies Baku.
May 20 Bolshevik rebellion in Alexandropol, Eastern Armenia suppressed.
May 20 Red Army occupies Karabakh, afterwards Zangezur and Nakhichevan (in July/August).
6/22/20 Greeks start campaign against Turkish nationalists in Asia Minor.
Aug./Sept. 20 Anti - colonial “Congress of Peoples of the East” in Baku.
8/10/20 Peace treaty of Sèvres.
8/24/20 Treaty of friendship between Bolshevik Russia and Kemalist Turkey in Moscow – without fixing the border of their respective spheres of influence (i.e. the Turkish – Armenian border).
9/24/20 Turkish invasion of Armenia under command of Karabekir Pasha starts.
10/12/20 Simon Vratsyan becomes Armenian Prime Minister to create a coalition government of the ruling Armenian Revolutionary Federation (HHD/Dashnaks) and the Armenian Bolsheviks aimed at the support of Soviet Russia against the Turks.
10/19-20/20 „Armenian October Revolution“ in Yerevan.
Dashnak government retires after demonstrations and riots. Revolutionary Committee of Bolsheviks and leftist Dashnaks takes control and is recognized by the National Assembly 47 to 30.
10/20/20 Revolutionary Committee proclaims Armenian Soviet Republic and elects Alexander Miasnikian “Martuni” (who is in Moscow) as its chairman. Appeal for aid to Soviet Russia.
Division of the Dashnaks in adherents (on the left) and opponents (on the right) of the Soviet republic.
10/30/20 Red Army enters Yerevan. Turks lay siege to Kars.
November 20 Moscow demands retreat of Turkish troops to border of 1914.
Lloyd George rejects Kemal Pasha´s secret offer for an alliance against Soviet Russia and betrays it to the Russians.
11/12/20 Red Army and Armenian troops lift Turkish siege of Kars.
11/19/20 Rebellion and proclamation of a Turkish republic - led by Enver Pasha – in Baku.
11/22/20 US – commission (officially presided by President Wilson) announces Turkish – Armenian border, thereby creating “Wilsonian Armenia”.
11/23/20 Soviet Russia declares to support Soviet Armenia´s “territorial integrity”.
December 20 Turkish counter – offensive on Kars (after withdrawal of Red Army units to fight the rebellion in the region of Baku) repulsed in fierce resistance of Armenian troops.
12/25/20 Karabekir Pasha and several of his officers – lured to Kemal Pasha´s headquarters – are arrested and executed on accusation of mutiny.
Turkish Eastern army divides into private armies of warlords.
1/1/21 Treaty of Yalta: Soviet Armenia joins supplemented Treaty of Moscow (1920). Additional agreement on the „internationally fixed” Turkish – Armenian border (i.e. Wilsonian border).
1/20/21 Red Army reconquers Baku. Enver escapes bloody settling with Turkish nationalists to Central Asia.
2/16/21 Karabakh and Nakhichevan declared autonomous territories of Azerbaijan by Moscow. – Red Army invades Georgia.
3/15/21 L´Opération Némésis: Soghomon Tehlirian finishes off Talaat Pasha in Berlin.
4/18/21 Red Army lands at Trebizond, liberates Pontus from terrorist Turkish regime and occupies Lazica, which becomes Laz SSR of Georgia.
4/25/21 (Second) Battle of Sarikamish starts conquest of Western Armenia by the Armenian People´s Army under the command of General Dro and the Red Army.
“Great Flight” of about one million Turks and Kurds.
5/16/21 Turkish pogrom against Armenians in Constantinople stopped by
Allied military.
6/3/21 Pontic Greek civilians and Armenian soldiers burn down the Turkish quarter of Trebizond.
4/26/22 Bolshevik coup d´état in Yerevan. Rebellion against it, led by Garegin Ter – Harutiunian “Nzhdeh”, suppressed. Prohibition of the Dashnak party. Dashnak leaders escape to Persia.
8/4/22 Enver Pasha killed in action against an Armenian Red Army unit from Karabakh in Central Asia.
8/30/22 Greek front in Asia Minor collapses under Turkish attack.
9/13/22 Great Fire of Smyrna starts …
9/13/22 Turkish units enter the International Zone.
9/15/22 British cabinet decides with regard to Russia´s protectorate for Armenia to leave Constantinople on no account without appropriate Turkish equivalent.
9/23/22 Turkish units camp in front of Çanakkale (at the Dardanelles), garrisoned by a small British unit. Chanak Crisis starts.
9/27/22 Constantine I., King of Greece, resigns on demand of the army. Troops supporting a military government formed on Chios enter Athens the following day.
9/28/22 Clash at Çanakkale.
9/29/22 British evacuate Çanakkale and retreat on battleships.
9/30/22 Britain declares war on Turkey and imposes
a blockade coasts of Asia Minor.
British yellow press demands „Revenge for Chanak!“ Colonial Secretary Churchill is the main agitator of the war party.
10/1/22 British start recruitment of veterans of Wrangel´s White Army in Constantinople and transport of the Greek army to Gallipoli.
France and Italy leave Allied Commission in Constantinople. France starts intense diplomatic activity to avoid an escalating British – Turkish war.
10/2/22 Admiral Calthorpe nominated Allied High Commissioner again - sine collega.
10/3/22 Australia and New Zealand start to recruit an expeditionary force again (while the other Dominions Canada and South Africa support the UK only formally).
10/10/22 Greek troops advance within a distance of 3 miles to the walls of Constantinople on British invitation.
Britain officially warns the Turks of Constantinople to rebel and Kemal Pasha to attack the city.
10/11-12/22 “Battle of Chanak”: Royal Navy eliminates Turkish artillery batteries in Çanakkale, devastates the city and penetrates the Dardanelles. Turks declare to have repulsed a British – Greek landing in Anatolia.
10/13/22 “Hippodrome Massacre”: Scottish infantrymen and Gurkhas open fire on mass meeting of Turkish rioters after Friday prayer in the Hagia Sophia. Admiral Calthorpe: “The Turks put us to the test.”
10/14/22 Admiral Calthorpe lets loose the Russian mercenaries on the Turks after they´ve started insidious attacks on British forces. The Russians achieve to maintain British control in Constantinople by pitiless retaliation measures.
Kemal Pasha renounces attack on the city, while Britain doesn´t want to launch a campaign in Asia Minor – resulting in a kind of phoney war.
11/9/22 Armistice on Imrali in the Sea of Marmara: British troops occupy straits zone and hoist the Union Jack in the ruins of Çanakkale.
11/20/22 Retiring of Lloyd George after ´Carlton Club meeting´ of backbench Tory MPs.
11/28/22 ´The Six´ - a Greek general and ministers held responsible for the catastrophe in Asia Minor and sentenced to death – are amnestied on demand of the British ambassador in the very last minute.
12/20/22 Orient conference in Venice opened by new Italian Prime Minister Mussolini. Britain announces “Curzon Plan” after start of negotiations.
12/30/22 Armenia joins the Soviet Union as member of the Transcaucasian Soviet Republic. Slogan of the Armenian CP: „We built the New Socialist Armenia!“
1923 Dissolution of the Armenian community of Constantinople.
March 23 Turkish delegation leaves Venice in protest (returns in May). British Foreign Secretary Lord Curzon to Bonar Law in 10 Downing Street: „These Turks can get Stan or Smy, but damn not both!“
7/7/23 Azerbaijan mutilates autonomous region Karabakh to the enclave Nagorno Karabakh.
8/24/23 Treaty of Venice in accordance with the “Curzon Plan” – Britain´s last imperial deed.
Exchange of population (except Constantinople and West Thrace) and territories (East Thrace for Ionia) between Greece and Turkey. International administration of the straits – in every other affair Turkey becomes independent and sovereign.
Kemal Pasha: „The shots at Çanakkale cost us Izmir.“
8/31/23 Mutiny against treaty of Venice in Eskişehir suppressed within some days by loyal troops.
9/30/23 Turkish National Assembly passes treaty of Venice by 151 to 99.
October 23 Turks occupy East Thrace, Greeks occupy Ionia - under supervision of the League of Nations to limit destruction and looting.
10/1/23 Mehmet VI. evacuated from Constantinople by the British.
11/9/23 British leave Constantinople. They begin to call the British – Turkish war of 1922 ´The Forty Days´ War´ or ´The October War´.
11/10/23 Triumphant entry of Kemal Pasha in Constantinople. Victory celebrations in Turkey.
11/10/23 Foundation of Nea Smyrni, which becomes the second metropolis of Greece and the centre of Greek republicanism and the Greek left.
11/11/23 Turkey imposes a total blockade on Ionia.
11/17/23 Turkish National Assembly proclaims republic. The new republican Turkey establishes no diplomatic relations to the UK and the US.
THE INTER – WAR PERIOD
February 24 Erzurum after Lenin´s death renamed Leninakan.
February 25 Rebellion in Kurdistan and immediate Kurdish attacks in Western Armenia. Fierce Armenian resistance and bloody punishment of the Kurdish tribes left in Western Armenia (April/May).
April 26 Mussolini demands sphere of influence in Asia Minor. Turkey starts to fortify her border to Ionia.
May 26 Conspiracy to murder Kemal Pasha uncovered in Bursa and extended to mass arrest of his opponents who are sentenced to hard labour or to death by kangaroo courts.
May 26 Turkish mob assaults British tourists in Constantinople who arrived by the Orient Express.
August 26 Concluding report of the House of Commons´ “Hippodrome Commission”.
1928/30 Beginning of the collectivization in Armenia. Building of military settlements at the Turkish border.
January 28 Lloyd George wounded by a grazing shot of a Turkish assassin in a park in Antibes, South France.
1930ies Building of huge dams at Western (Lenin – System) and Eastern (October 20th - System) Euphrates.
May 30 Aghasi Khandjian, “The Builder”, becomes First Secretary of the Armenian CP (murdered by Berija in 1936).
10/20/30 Rightist Dashnak assassinates the “traitor” Simon Vratsyan in Paris – zenith of the bloody feud between rightist and leftist Dashnaks.
1932/33 Kurdish guerilla resistance against collectivization in Western Armenia suppressed. Armenian units systematically use poison gas “to fight gangs”. Kurdish tribes left in Armenia (in the region of Van) are wiped out or flee to Kurdistan.
May 32 Combat between Turkish and Soviet unit on the Turkish – Armenian border.
November 33 Riots in Istanbul against international administration of the straits. Royal Navy sent to demonstrate.
11/24/34 Hagia Sophia turned into a museum.
1935 Hollywood: MGM produces The Forty Days of Musa Dagh. American movies prohibited in Turkey (in 1945 limited on MGM – productions).
December 35 Greece starts building of the Papagos Line in Asia Minor.
7/20/36 Treaty of Montreux: revision of the international administration of the straits. Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Britain.
Greek Prime Minister Metaxas unofficially announces to ally with Fascist Italy in case of Turkish invasion of Ionia.
September 36 Turkey demands establishment of the „Republic Hatay“ in the Sanjak of Alexandrette.
12/5/36 “Stalin Constitution” dissolutes Transcaucasian Soviet Republic and makes Armenia a Soviet republic on her own again and Pontus her autonomous Soviet republic.
1937 General Wavell starts on Cyprus and in Haifa Britain´s preparations against a Turkish invasion of the Middle East.
8/24/37 British consul - general in Istanbul murdered by Turkish nationalists.
4/6/38 Catholicos Choren I. murdered by NKVD agents.
11/11/38 Death of Kemal Pasha in Istanbul announced (died in fact one day ago, 15 years after entering the city).
In Word War II a conspiracy theory develops in Turkey, claiming that the British secret service poisoned „Atatürk“.
4/13/39 British guarantee of Greece´s independence and territorial integrity - aimed at the stabilization of Britain´s challenged position in the Mediterranean.
5/18/39 France and Britain reject „Republic Hatay“ by the League of Nations Council.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
12/27/39 Earthquake destroys Erzincan, Western Armenia. The city is left.
October 40 In the Sanjak of Alexandrette fights between Turks and the Allied Arabs and Armenians. Vichy regime declares state of emergency. Turkey threatens to occupy the province.
10/27/40 Marshal Pétain officially and categorically rejects a „Turkish republic in Antiochia“.
10/28/40 Italian invasion of Greece from Albania starts and is repulsed within some weeks. Greek counter – offensive gains ground but fails to expel Italian forces from Albania.
1941/42 „Game for Turkey“ respectively ”Türkeispiel” between MI6 and the German services SD and Abwehr in Ankara and Istanbul. Canaris, chief of the Abwehr, thwarts war alliance between the Reich and Turkey (as in the case of Spain too).
January 41 Two-thirds of the Greek army shifted from Albania to Ionia. Greek dictator Metaxas to critics: “Shall Smyrna burn again?”
1/22/41 Hitler receives Turkish Prime Minister Saydam in Berlin.
Massive unofficial threats by the U.S. and the Soviet Union against Turkey.
3/10/41 Primavera Offensive: Greek front at the Klisura Pass, Albania breaks.
3/23/41 Mussolini has to leave Albania for Rome, having arranged the keyword „Sulla“ with commander-in-chief Cavallero for his return.
3/28/41 Battle of Cape Matapan. Great victory of the Royal Navy over the Regia Marina contributes considerably to continuing Turkish neutrality.
3/28/41 Italian navy starts occupation of Ionian Islands.
4/4/41 Italian army reaches the Gulf of Corinth and the Aegean Sea.
4/6/41 Alpini unit hoists Italy´s flag on top of the Olympus producing great pics for the cinemas at home. Germans and Bulgarians invade Macedonia and Thrace.
4/13-14/41 Italian army fails to break Greek – British front at Thermopylae and at the Parnass.
4/21/41 German Gebirgsjäger and paratroopers break Greek – British front at Thermopylae.
4/24/41 Greek army surrenders to Cavallero and German officers in Levadia.
4/27/41 Mussolini triumphantly enters Athens on horseback. Germans occupy Piraeus.
5/4/41 Grand reception of Mussolini in Rome. Speech from the balcony of Palazzo Venezia: la vittoria mutilata will be healed by the occupation of Smyrna.
5/5/41 Italian troops land in Smyrna and occupy Ionia.
Sephardi community of Smyrna lives unmolested under Italian military administration.
5/28-29/41 Military revolt in Istanbul against neutrality suppressed.
6/22/41 Unternehmen Barbarossa: German invasion of Soviet Union starts.
July 41 Gaullist troops occupy Sanjak of Alexandrette.
7/12/41 Quadrumvir De Vecchi becomes governor of Ionia and (again) the Italian Aegean Islands.
Sept./Oct. 41 Turkey on the verge of intervention after disastrous defeats of the Red Army.
September 41 Mass armament and state of alarm in Armenia. Turks left in Eastern Armenia (region of Ardahan) concentrated. NKVD evacuates population from Nakhichevan.
Pontic Greeks absolutely loyal to the Soviet regime.
September 41 Both Dashnak parties declare to support the fight against the German invasion of the Soviet Union - which means to fight the danger of a Turkish invasion of Armenia.
9/22/41 Turkish interventionists murder Soviet ambassador in Ankara.
9/25/41 Gun – fight (arranged by Greeks) between Italian and Turkish troops on the Ionian border. Outraged Mussolini publicly threatens “retaliation” for the “assault”. Hitler manages to avoid escalation.
November 41 German forces occupy Crimea (except Sevastopol): immediate murderous attacks of Crimean Tatars against Armenians (without any German participation).
December 41 Turkey rejects Italian request to open the Ionian border for the transport of grain to the starving population in European Greece.
12/11/41 U.S. at war against Germany and Italy - a heavy blow for Turkish interventionism.
12/30/41 Formation of Armenian 812th Battalion commanded by Nzhdeh (excluded by Dashnaks, dies in L.A. 1957) to fight the Soviet regime. General Dro rejected its command.
January 42 Interventionist officers murder Turkish Foreign Minister Saracoğlu in Ankara.
July 42 RAF starts to use Spitfires for reconnaissance flights in Southern Turkey (until October, revealed in 1973).
7/1/42 Evacuation of the Red Army from Sevastopol: Hitler promises Turkey carte blanche in “Transcaucasian and Turkish territories of the Soviet Union” by ambassador von Papen.
7/4-5/42 Celebrations in Turkey after the fall of Tobruk and Sevastopol become interventionist riots. Cry of the masses: „War against the Russians! War against the English!“
7/29/42 Il Duce visits Smyrna.
7/25/43 Mussolini´s overthrow after the last meeting of Gran Consiglio del Fascismo the night before ends rule of “Ionia´s proconsul” De Vecchi as well.
9/8/43 Italy surrenders but her army in Ionia stays intact - neither the British nor the Germans land in Ionia.
9/21/43 Declaration of loyalty of the Italian army in Ionia to the regime of Badoglio (on British demand).
10/13/43 Badoglian Italy declares war on Germany. Italian units in Ionia and German units in the Aegean Sea avoid fighting each other.
10/14/43 Treaty between Badoglian Italy and Greek exile government in Cairo for joint government of Ionia (on British demand).
12/5/43 Meeting Churchill – Ismet Pasha in Cairo. Churchill categorically rejects delivery of Ionia.
May 44 Armenian Tamanjan division invades Crimea and massacres thousands of Crimean Tatars to retaliate the slaughter of Armenians in ´41.
August 44 Turkey eludes British – American demand to break relations with the Reich.
November 44 Deportation of the Trancaucasian Turks from Eastern Armenia and of the Laz to Central Asia. Laz autonomous republic abolished.
12/10/44 Communist riots in Smyrna suppressed by Italian army and Greek police. Campaign of L´Unita against the “Fascist” military governor Marshal “Bombastico” Bastico (replaced two weeks later).
January 45 Repatriation of the Italian army from Ionia to the Gothic Line.
January 45 Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Turkey.
3/21/45 Transfer of Nakhichevan from sovereignty of Azerbaijan to the one of Armenia.
3/21/45 Stalin demands free military passage in the Turkish straits, joint administration and a base of the Red Fleet there.
5/2/45 Turkey quits diplomatic relations to Germany and declares war on her – paying the entrance-fee for the UN (after not having been a member of the League of Nations).
THE COLD WAR
7/21/45 Armenian monument at the Musa Dagh unveiled.
August 45 Turkey rejects delivery of former German ambassador von Papen to Nuremberg trial (departs to West Germany, April ´51).
1946 – 48 Kremlin allows repatriation of 100 000 Armenians from the diaspora.
4/17/46 Syrian Arabian Republic declares independence. Severe tensions with Turkey about Sanjak of Alexandrette.
5/1/46 First May Day in combination with Soviet patriotic celebrations in Armenia and Pontus.
June 46 Turkish mob invades Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople searching for “Russian spies”. Several Armenian priests wounded or killed.
July 46 Smyrna occupied by British troops (until April ´47). Turkey protests.
September 46 In Pontus formation of volunteer units for the civil war in Greece.
June 47 Armenian Patriarchate in Constantinople declares vacancy. Start of France´s trusteeship for it.
August 47 In Turkey celebrations for the „Fall of the British Empire“.
December 47 Communist Party of Greece (KKE) takes its seat in Trebizond.
April 48 Treaty of Lausanne by US - mediation: population exchange between Turkey and Syria (ethnic criteria).
5/16/48 In Smyrna´s Jewish quarter Karataş fights between Jews and Greeks after the proclamation of Israel.
August 48 Armed Aramaic resistance in Tur Abdin against resettlement brutally suppressed by Turkish forces and Kurdish gangs. Clashes between Turkish and Arabian resettlers.
Nov./Dec. 48 Syria settles Aramaeans from Tur Abdin in Sanjak of Alexandrette.
1949/51 Campaigns against „Titoism“ and „Cosmopolitism“ in Armenia and Pontus start, accompanied by mass arrests (until Stalin´s death).
1950/51 Passage of more than 100 000 refugees („Red Argonauts“) of the Greek civil war to Pontus.
May 50 Soviet patriotic 2500th anniversary of Van.
September 51 Riots against US – military mission in Sivas, Central Anatolia. Turkey and U.S. declare Soviet agents to be responsible.
October 51 Stalin orders extension of the dams of the Euphrates tributaries in anticipation of Turkey´s NATO membership.
5/29/53 Istanbul: celebration of 500th anniversary of the Turkish conquest.
11/10/53 Smyrna: celebration of the 30th anniversary of the city´s refoundation.
December 53 Mikoyan stabbed down by an Azeri official in Moscow – surviving the attack.
4/1/55 National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (EOKA) starts attacking British colonial rule on Cyprus.
8/10-11/55 Traditional anti – Anglo – Saxon meetings in Turkey escalate into riots against Turkey´s membership in Baghdad Treaty.
9/6-7/55 Septembriana: pogrom against Greeks in Istanbul. Greek community starts to emigrate.
9/14/55 Headline of the Daily Mail: “The Fury Of The Asian Mob – The Turkish Method” (for Noel Barber´s article). Agitation of the London yellow press against “Nazi Turks”. Press war and diplomatic affair between Britain and Turkey. Onassis invests in Fleet Street.
October 55 EOKA finishes attacks. Arch bishop Makarios III. becomes unofficial representative of Greek government on Cyprus.
March 56 Riots against de – Stalinization in Trebizond and Nakhichevan.
May 56 Nikolaos Zachariadis, the Stalinist party secretary of Pontus (since 1935) is deposed. Markos Vafiadis (b. 1906 in Erzurum) becomes party secretary of Pontus (until 1983).
January 57 Macmillan cabinet renounces control on the whole of Cyprus after Suez disaster.
April 57 Secret Cyprus convention between Britain and Greece.
10/30/57 Britain announces transfer of administration on Cyprus to UN.
November 57 Greece applies for UN – referendum on Cyprus - Turkey for the island´s partition.
Nov./Dec. 57 Turkey fails to gain Soviet- or US - support against British - Greek policy on Cyprus.
1958 Paris: second edition of Vratsyan´s Hayastani Hanrapetutiun (1928) released. Kremlin: falsification of the French secret service and the Dashnaks´ fairy tale.
2/1/58 “Aschdod Affair” Royal Navy captures Israeli freighter smuggling weapons for Turkish militants on Cyprus. Anti - Jewish riots in Smyrna. British order general disarming on Cyprus.
2/1/58 Egypt and Syria establish the United Arab Republic. Nasser doesn´t recognize the prohibition of a military alliance with the Soviet Union fixed in the treaty of Lausanne. Start of severe tensions between Turkey and Nasser.
2/15-16/58 Search for weapons ends in clash between militant Turks and British soldiers in Famagusta, Cyprus. British declare state of emergency, suppress Turkish riots and start to deport some hundred Turkish activists to Malta and Tobruk, Libya.
2/16/58 Britain suspends diplomatic relations to Turkey after shots by civilians on her consulate - general in Istanbul. Turkish protest against „genocide“ on Cyprus.
4/30/58 UK transfers Cyprus – except two bases – to UN.
5/17/58 UN - General Assembly agrees to referendum on Cyprus by 74 to 5 (Turkey, Albania, Israel, Pakistan, Tunisia) and abstention of the U.S. and France.
Onassis (allegedly): „I bought Cyprus!“ In Turkey common believe in Onassis – Churchill – conspiracy.
Celebrations in Greek communities all over the world after Turkish UN – disaster.
5/18/58 Turkey quits Baghdad Treaty and membership in military structures of NATO (until December ´80).
5/25/58 Reunification congress of the HHD in Brussels (originally planned in Paris).
July 58 Riots in Ardahan, Eastern Armenia against return of Trancaucasian Turks.
7/14/58 British royal puppet regime in Iraq overthrown. Regulation of water flood from Armenia widely supposed to be a reason for the regime change.
August 58 Turkish vandalism on Allied cemeteries in Gallipoli. Shock and anger in Australia und New Zealand.
9/21/58 Referendum on Cyprus (boycotted by Turkish Cypriots): 76% in favour of Enosis.
1/1/59 Day of Enosis: Cyprus united with Greece.
3/8/59 Triumph of Karamanlis´ National Radical Union (ERE) in Greek general elections.
June 59 Treaty of London: Britain keeps her bases on Cyprus without any limits.
April/May 60 Series of Turkish military provocations in the Aegean Sea. De Gaulle admonishes the Turks to terminate “uncivilised acts”.
July 61 French police arrests four Turks in Nice who are preparing an attack on Onassis´ yacht.
9/23/62 The Observer publishes scandalous article „Lawrence of Ionia“ about Chanak Incident in 1922.
1/17/63 Smyrna: monument for Lloyd George unveiled on his 100th birthday.
April 63 U.S. withdraws atomic missiles (installed April ´61) from Western Armenian border.
5/22/63 Murder of the popular Socialist deputy Lambrakis in Smyrna.
11/10/63 Great celebration in commemoration of Kemal Pashas entry in Istanbul. Becomes regular jubilee event.
December 63 Seminary on the Prince´s Island closed: displacement of the Greeks left in Istanbul started.
April 64 Greece starts campaign for re – Hellenisation of Cyprus: displacement of the Turks from Cyprus.
4/24/65 Riots in Yerevan against official genocide memorial. Catholicos Vasgen I. manages to calm down the outraged masses and to avoid a massacre.
1968/69 In Western Armenia and Pontus erection of genocide monuments at scenes of the crime.
4/24/68 Dedication of the genocide monument on the Zizernakaberd at Yerevan.
November 71 Britain and Turkey restore diplomatic relations.
Januar 73 Australia´s new Labor government exchanges ambassadors with Turkey.
1/27/73 Gurgen Yanikyan (b. 1895) kills two Turkish diplomats in Santa Barbara - inspiration for foundation of Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA/Justice Commandoes of the Armenian Genocide).
6/1/73 Greek military government proclaims republic. Smyrna becomes seat of government and parliament.
11/10/73 Greek military government stages great celebration to commemorate 50th anniversary of the refoundation of Smyrna.
11/25/73 Enosis hero Georgios Grivas (b. 1897) becomes Greece´s President (for only 64 days).
7/17/74 Greek Republic of North Epirus (EDVI) proclaimed by underground radio station.
7/18/74 Greece recognizes EDVI. Ultimatum on Albania. Mobilization in Albania.
7/20/74 Greek military government orders mobilization: resistance of the people and in the armed forces.
7/23/74 Greek military government retires.
7/24/74 Karamanlis – charged by the Greek President - arrives in Athens and forms government. Restoration of democracy in Greece.
12/8/74 Greek plebiscite about form of government - and seat of government and parliament: Smyrna narrowly defeated by Athens.
June 75 New Greek constitution guarantees Slav Macedonians use of their language.
8/30/75 „Türkeş Affair“ by revanchist speech of Turkey´s Vice Prime Minister. Greece suspends diplomatic relations to Turkey (except in Istanbul). Destruction of Turkish relicts in Ionia by outraged demonstrators.
10/24/75 Paris: ARA – attacker kills Turkish ambassador.
November 75 Election of an Armenian patriarch of Constantinople, taking his seat in Smyrna after Turkey has denied entry.
2/19/78 Hostage crisis on Cyprus. Relations between Greece and Egypt suspended (until Dec. ´81).
4/14/78 Tbilisi, Georgia: riots against new Soviet constitution - by which Russian becomes second official language in all republics – include attacks on Armenians.
11/22/78 Murdering of US – naval attaché in Ankara.
1979 Leader of PKK Öcalan flees to Lebanon. Syria denies entry.
1/1/79 Great celebration in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Enosis. Becomes regular jubilee event.
1/1/81 Greece becomes member of EC, which includes thereby a territory in Asia Minor.
10/18/81 Pan – Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) wins Greek general elections. Ionia is among its strongholds.
1/28/82 Los Angeles: ARA – commando kills Turkish consul - general. Riots in Turkey.
March 82 Britain breaks relations to Turkey and blockades all financial help of EC for her after death of a BBC journalist in Turkish police custody. Maggie Thatcher: “Enough is enough.”
5/4/82 Somerville/Boston: ARA – attacker kills Turkish honorary consul.
August 82 U.S. expels Turkish diplomats accused of preparing attacks on Armenian targets in California. France abolishes „Grey Wolves“.
November 82 First bomb attempt by re – established Macedonian IMRO in Greece.
July 84 Historical visit of Greek Prime Minister Papandreou in Trebizond.
March 87 “Sismik Affair” Greece and Turkey at the verge of war about Turkish exploring ship in the Aegean Sea.
August 87 State of war between Greece and Albania (since 1940) finished and diplomatic relations (as in 1971 – 74) restored.
2/20/88 Nagorno Karabakh demands union (miazum) with Armenia.
Miazum – movement spreads to Armenia. Foundation of the national – democratic Karabakh Committee.
2/27-29/88 Murderous riots against Armenians in Sumgait near Baku.
3/21/88 Prawda and the Union´s Supreme Council (on 23rd) reject Karabakh – movement: suppression in Armenia.
May 88 Nationalists storm session of the Armenian Supreme Council. CP – leader Demirchyan, among others, killed. Attackers killed by OMON troops the day after.
5/17/88 Enosis Day in Greece for the first time on the day of the UN - General Assembly´s resolution about Cyprus.
12/7/88 Earthquake destroys Spitak and damages Kumairi. Aid through iron curtain for the first time.
April/May 89 Mass demonstrations and boycott of elections for People’s Deputy Congress in Armenia.
5/31/89 Released Karabakh – Committee returns triumphantly from arrest in Moscow.
9/7/89 Foundation of the Pan National Movement of the Armenians (HHS), led by Ter – Petrosyan.
11/9/89 Fall of the Berlin Wall.
THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
1990/91 Start of Kurdish pressure on Western Armenian border area.
January 90 Flight of Armenians from Azerbaijan - Azeris displaced from Armenia.
4/24/90 First official Genocide Memorial Day in Armenia.
5/20/90 Free election of Armenian Supreme Council: CP stays strongest party but fails to keep majority against opposition.
June/July 90 Armenian leaders manage to avoid formation of independent nationalist militias in Armenia.
8/4/90 Ter – Petrosyan becomes President of the Armenian Supreme Council.
8/23/90 Armenian Supreme Council declares sovereignty (Pontus´ autonomy guaranteed) and demands “the right of association within the Soviet constitution“ for Nagorno Karabakh.
September 90 Azerbaijan imposes blockade on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
1/6/91 Reconsecration of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (museum since 1937) on the island Aghtamar in Lake Van by Christmas service attended by Armenia´s new government.
March 91 Lenin – system at the Western Euphrates tributary renamed Mesrop Mashtots – system.
April - July 91 Operation by Azeri OMON units against Armenian villages in Azerbaijan. - Armenian units attack Azeri settlements left in Zangezur.
4/25/91 First National Liberation Day in Armenia (instead of Soviet celebration).
May 91 Visit of the Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis in Trebizond.
8/19/91 Coup in Moscow.
8/29/91 Prohibition of the Armenian CP as member of the Soviet Union´s CP. No anti – Soviet demolishment in Armenia and Pontus.
9/2/91 Nagorno Karabakh proclaims to be a republic of the Soviet Union.
9/8/91 Macedonia independent: conflict with Greece about her name and coat of arms.
9/21/91 Plebiscite decides in favour of Armenia’s independence.
9/23/91 Armenia declares her independence. Pontus becomes her autonomous republic. Armenian flag hoisted on Mount Ararat after decades under Soviet control. - 7th Soviet Army stays in Armenia.
10/16/91 Ter - Petrosyan elected as President of Armenia.
10/20/91 Recondition of the Armenian CP as Armenian Communist Party (HKK).
11/1/91 Defence treaty Armenia - Nagorno Karabakh (effective by Nagorno Karabakh´s declaration of independence).
11/20/91 Mass demonstrations in Baku demand war against Armenia.
December 91 Armenia introduces compulsory military service for men and women.
12/10/91 Plebiscite about the independence of Nagorno Karabakh. Fighting in Nagorno Karabakh between Armenians and Azeris starts.
12/21-25/91 Armenia joins the CIS. – Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1992/93 Rationing of food and energy in Armenia. Mobilization of the diaspora in the fight against the Azeris and the resistance against Turkey.
1992/93 Massive Turkish support for Azeris. Nationalist Movement Party (MHP/Grey Wolves) recruits volunteers.
1992/93 Combats between PKK and Turkish army in Western Armenian border territory.
1992/93 In Armenia development of (in parts) a colonialism by the diaspora. Mass pauperization.
1/6/92 Proclamation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Immediate recognition by Armenia.
February 92 Nagorno Karabakh attacked from Azeri territory: mobilization in Armenia. “Karabakh War” between Armenia and Azerbaijan without any declaration.
Feb.- May 92 Karabakh – Armenians repulse Azeri attacks and gain control over the territory of their republic (except Shushi).
March 92 Armenia becomes member of the UN against Turkish protest. Russia ends neutrality after coup of pro – Turkish People´s Front in Baku.
4/26/92 Plebiscite to legalize national constitution. Armenia defines itself by it as a state „in the duty of caring for and protecting the monophysite Christianity“.
5/9/92 Armenian counter offensive: blockade of Nagorno Karabakh broken and Shushi captured. - Afterwards conquest of a zone around Nagorno Karabakh. Mass flight of Azeris. Offensive finished on Russia´s demand. Turkey threatens to intervene.
5/12/92 Turkey imposes blockade against Armenia.
5/28/92 Beirut: foundation of the ASADA (Armenian Secret Army for the Defence of Armenia). Top secret cooperation with the Armenian secret service.
June 92 Counteroffensive of Azeri forces repulsed in fierce Armenian resistance.
July 92 Start of terrorist Azeri air attacks by Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
July 92 Russia vetoes UN - sanctions against Armenia. Protest of Turkey and Azerbaijan. Anti – Russian mass demonstrations in Baku and in Turkey.
July 92 First US – expedition to the Ararat in search for Noah´s Ark.
4/24/93 Turkish nationalists attack visitors of the ANZAC dawn service in Istanbul. Indignation in Australia and New Zealand and official protest of their governments to Turkey. Dawn service after three years transferred to the Greek island Lemnos.
5/28/93 Armenian National Day: dissolution of the Autonomous Republic Nakhichevan.
6/12/93 Armenian national hero Monte ´Avo´ Melkonyan killed in clash with Azeris.
6/25/93 Baku: coup of Alijev, former CP – secretary of Azerbaijan.
7/25/93 Moscow: armistice between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
9/3-5/93 „Çiller´s War“: Turkish unit invading Armenian border area is defeated by Armenian elite unit at Sassun. Russian troops intervene against Turkish counter attack.
Mobilization and mass demonstrations in Armenia. Presentation of killed and captured Turks on TV. Russia threatens „Third World War“. Clinton and Yeltsin agree to de-escalation via red telephone. Admonition of Turkey by the U.S. Anti – Russian riots in Istanbul.
10/29/93 Peace treaty of Lausanne between Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan recognizes Nagorno Karabakh, which renounces union with Armenia. Settlements about compensations, refugees, prisoners, hostages and the withdrawal of troops.
November 93 Triumphant reception of victorious troops in Yerevan.
Withdrawal of Armenian troops from first part of occupied Azeri territory and of Karabakh´s militias from line of armistice.
November 93 Nagorno Karabakh´s Supreme Soviet agrees to peace treaty - against Dashnak resistance and after reorganization of government – and elects Kocharyan as the republic´s first President.
November 93 Unofficial Russian blockade imposed on Armenia. Pontic ships substitute Russian for Greek flag.
December 93 Azerbaijan unofficially reopens delivery of gas and oil to Armenia. Dark and cold nights in Armenia end.
December 93 “Ypsilantis Affair”: Turks stop Greek freighter transporting air defence weapons to Armenia at the straits. Settlement of the „misunderstanding“. Violent protest of Turkish nationalists in front of Greek Patriarchate in Constantinople.
December 93 Riots in Trebizond´s suburb Platana against Greek – speaking Pontic Muslims.
1994/95 Immigration of Aramaeans from Iraq to Armenia starts. Refoundation of Aramaic communities at Lake Van (slaughtered in 1915).
1994 Development of a new tourist industry in Armenia starts - concentrated on diaspora, Iran and Russia (renewed from Soviet era).
1994 Armenia starts program to modernize and to extend her defence system.
Construction of a small air force and of an arsenal of missiles.
January 94 „Implementation Crisis“: Armenian punitive expeditions after Azeri attacks at the armistice line. Reports about murder of Armenian hostages in Azerbaijan.
Februar 94 Clashes between Armenians and Azeris in Tbilisi, Georgia.
3/19/94 Baku: bomb attack in the underground by Armenians.
4/1/94 Law against separatism in Armenia recognises Yezids but abolishes declaration of a Kurdish nation (repealed July 2000).
April/May 94 Militia and front troops expel Kurds (immigrated in the last years) systematically from border areas of Western Armenia. International sensation.
4/20/94 First military ceremony at the monument for the resistance against the genocide in Van.
4/29/94 Greek parliament declares May 19 memorial day of the Pontic Greek genocide.
5/8/94 Celebration of the 2750th anniversary of the foundation of Trebizond. Treaty of friendship between Armenia and Greece. Meeting between the Presidents Ter – Petrosyan and Karamanlis.
5/13/94 Brussels: Armenian security kills 7 attacking demonstrators – 6 Kurds, 1 female German supporter – in and in front of the Armenian embassy. Belgium suspends relations.
5/19-20/94 ASADA captures Turkish embassy in Vienna. 7 Turks, 1 ASADA fighter killed. Declaration on TV. After release of all hostages blasting of the embassy. Commando escapes. - Turkish mob attacks Armenian ruins and cemeteries in Istanbul and in Cilicia. Mitterrand calls Turkish ambassador to protest against attack on Armenian Patriarchate.
5/29/94 Turkey declares expansion of Greek territorial waters to be casus belli. Greece vetoes trade community between Turkey and EU.
September 94 Election campaign in Nagorno Karabakh escalates: shootings between hostile (officially dissolved) militias.
9/20/94 Baku oil trust AIOC excludes Russia and Iran.
9/21/94 Armenian ambassador in Bonn, Germany killed by Grey Wolves along his wife and daughter. Outraged Armenians shoot on the Turkish embassy in Beirut. Turkey breaks relations to Lebanon (until 2004).
October 94 Ter – Petrosyan visits Iran. Treaty of friendship between Armenia and Iran.
October 94 Elections in Nagorno Karabakh: Dashnaks defeated by Karabakh branch of HHS.
November 94 Armenia starts diplomatic relations to Iraq and Israel (opening of consulate – general in Jerusalem like Greece).
December 94 Withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azeri territory. Installation of a transition zone between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh at Latchin.
December 94 Start of Greek – Turkish negotiations in Davos, Switzerland.
12/31/94 Gendarmerie thwarts hijacking of Aeroflot flight from Paris – Orly to Yerevan by Turkish terrorists.
1/1/95 Opening of the Armenian – Turkish borders (to Azerbaijan and Turkey) and lifting of the Turkish blockade of the straits against Armenia - simultaneous delivery of imprisoned and killed Turks (Sept. ´93) by Armenia.
Switzerland proclaims diplomatic representation between Armenia and Turkey/Azerbaijan.
1/1/95 Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh join OSCE (as the last former Soviet republics).
1/6/95 Cooperation treaty between Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
February 95 Ter – Petrosyan visits France, meets Mitterrand and Balladur and visits Vratsyan´s grave in Père Lachaise to rehabilitate him. Treaty of friendship between France and Armenia.
March 95 US – Congress cuts financial help for Armenia and lifts her privileges.
3/20/95 Turkish offensive in Eastern Anatolia and Northern Iraq against PKK starts. Armenian forces partially mobilized.
April 95 Davos treaty to settle Aegean dispute between Greece and Turkey signed in the White House by Prime Ministers Papandreou and Çiller.
April 95 Submarine “Hovhannes Isakov” put into service in Trebizond (bought in France). Armenia starts to build up a small Russian – speaking submarine navy, manned by Pontic Greeks and Armenians.
April 95 Nagorno Karabakh becomes member of the UN.
4/4/95 Karekin I. (up to now Catholicos at Antelias) elected as Catholicos of All Armenians.
May 95 Ter – Petrosyan visits Syria and Lebanon. Turkish press agitates against Armenian „encirclement policy“.
May 95 Fights in Turkish National Assembly in dispute over Davos treaty.
5/9/95 Holiday Day in Armenia for the first time additionally dedicated to the victory over the Azeris three years ago.
7/2/95 First elections for the Armenian National Assembly: Communist HKK becomes strongest party but misses its control.
7/5/95 Communist demonstrators storm National Assembly in Yerevan. Fights and state of emergency.
10/20/95 Communists start campaign against post – Soviet regime in Armenia.
November 95 Militia suppresses strike of militant miners at the Lake Van, where state of emergency is declared. Ter – Petrosyan warns HKK by speech on TV.
Hostile mass meetings of Communists and supporters of the government in Yerevan. Militia on alert. Appeal for peace by the Catholicos. Armenia escapes civil war within a hair´s breadth.
11/22/95 Monument for US – President Wilson unveiled in Yerevan.
12/10/95 Nobel Prize for Peace awarded to Çiller and (absent in hospital) Papandreou.
1/1/96 Trade community Turkey – EU. Turkey re - opens seminary on the Prince´s Island (closed for 33 years). Greece accepts still closed Turkish border to Ionia.
April 96 Treaty of cooperation between EU and Transcaucasian republics (Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Georgia).
April 96 In Pontus and Armenia great celebrations on the 75th day of liberation from the Turkish yoke.
9/23/96 Armenian sole language in administration and schools in Armenia (except Aramaic schools) – Russian becomes second official language in Pontus (not any more equal to Pontic Greek).
10/6/96 Ter - Petrosyan re – elected as President of Armenia in second ballot by clear majority against HKK´s candidate Ruben Tovmasyan.
November 96 Leninakan renamed Karin (pre-Turkish name) and the October 20th system renamed September 21st system by Armenian National Assembly.
December 96 Treaty of friendship between Armenia and Georgia. Dashnaks protest and retire from government after 17 months.
1997 Number of repatriates to Armenia for the first time higher than the one of emigrants. Living standard in Armenia starts to rise. Development of a multi class society (in contrast to Soviet two class society).
January 97 Relations between Armenia and Russia unofficially normalized.
May 97 Ter – Petrosyan visits Canada and the U.S. Reception in the White House.
7/7/97 Dedication of a monument for the Russian victory over Turkish fleet in the Battle of Chesma 1770 by Greek President Stephanopoulos and Russian President Yeltsin on the Ionian coast.
October 97 Ter – Petrosyan visits Uruguay and Argentine, meets Argentinean President “El turco” Menem.
July 98 Ter – Petrosyan visits Yugoslavia, meets Miloševic and supports Serbian claim on Kosovo.
October 98 Turkey forces Lebanon to expel PKK leader Öcalan by threats of war. Anti – Turkish mass demonstration on Place des Martyrs in Beirut.
April 99 Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan and Georgia become members of European Council.
5/30/99 Elections for Armenian National Assembly: HHS becomes strongest party. HKK defeated on 3rd place behind Dashnaks.
Liberal Nea Dimokratia, led by Chrysanna “Hippolyta” Papadopoulos, wins elections for Autonomy Council in Pontus. First non – leftist government in Pontus for nearly 80 years.
10/27/99 Karekin II. (b. 1954) elected as 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians.
11/18/99 Istanbul: during the 7th OSCE summary treaty about construction of Baku – Yerevan – Ceyhan – Pipeline (BYC), leading 600 kilometres through Armenian territory.
Ter – Petrosyan and Kocharyan visit Armenian Patriarchate.
December 99 Armenian Foreign Minister Hovannisyan retires. Vartan Oskanyan becomes Foreign Minister.
2000 Foundation of a huge national park in Western Armenia according US – model.
January 00 Ter – Petrosyan visits Jerusalem and Gaza.
January 00 Scandal about Turkish „Selim Plan” (published in the Internet) for Armenia´s partition and the annexation of Ionia and Pontus.
April 00 Treaty of friendship between Armenia and Russia.
April 00 Altar of Pergamon, back from Berlin, re – erected in Ionia.
May 00 In Ionia great celebrations for 3000 years of Hellenism in Asia Minor. Honorary guests: Queen Elizabeth II., Putin, Ciampi, Mubarak, Ter – Petrosyan, Kocharyan.
June 00 Three Turkish fighters shot down over Western Armenia by Armenian SAMs and Mig–29 - fighters after repeated provocations in the months before. Turkey protests. MHP demands war against Armenia and retires from government. Civilians shoot on Pontic ship at the Bosporus. Armenia closes her border to Turkey for weeks, partially mobilizes her forces and threatens to quit the BYC - project. Phone calls by Clinton to Ankara and Yerevan and admonition by EU.
December 00 Abolition of foreign sectarian mission in Armenia. Armenian ambassador in Washington receives protest after police assaults on US – missionaries.
2001 Start of modernization and extension of the harbour of Trebizond, including military facilities (participation of Russia and Greece).
2001 Repatriation of about 300 000 Armenians since 1991.
January 01 Kocharyan, President of Nagorno Karabakh, becomes Prime Minister of Armenia – Serzh Sargsyan becomes new President of Nagorno Karabakh.
January 01 Hrant Dink (b. 1954 in Leninakan), author of the ´Bible of Armenian revisionism´, assaulted.
1/29/01 France recognizes Armenian genocide by presidential decree.
3/25/01 Greek National Day for the first time “Day of Hellenism” in Pontus.
4/15/01 Consecration of the cathedral „Gregory the Illuminator“ at the Ararat by Catholicos Karekin II.- Easter Sunday for the first time national holiday.
May 01 Putin receives Ter - Petrosyan in the Kremlin.
May 01 Historical visit of Ionia and the Sanjak of Alexandrette by Pope John Paul II.
August 01 Turkey suspends relations to Australia after Prime Minister Howard’s speech in Trebizond about the Pontic Greek and the Armenian genocide.
9/21/01 Foundations of the new Armenian capital Araratia laid (half way between Karin and Yerevan).
9/26/01 Pope John Paul II. on the Zizernakaberd, visiting Armenia during her celebrations for the 1700th anniversary of the acceptance of Christianity.
10/7/01 Kocharyan in the first round elected as President of Armenia.
November 01 Minister of Defence Vazgen Sargsyan (b. 1959) nominated as new Armenian Prime Minister. Dashnaks join government again.
November 01 US – ambassador offers Armenia opening of the process to join NATO.
December 01 Socialist and liberal Armenian parties unite in electoral block Ardartyun (Justice).
May 02 Russian President Putin visits Armenia.
12/22/02 Armenia abolishes death penalty (last execution in 1993: gang leader Gagik Tsarukyan). Pontus abolished it already in 1992.
2003/04 Armenian Aliya: Armenia evacuates the majority of the about 20 000 Armenians in Iraq by air.
March 03 New Islamic Turkish government ends Kemalist tradition of silence about the „Great Flight” of 1921.
4/16/03 Athens: demonstrations and riots during EU summit by some hundred thousand Ionian Greeks against pro – Turkish policy.
5/25/03 In Armenia plebiscite to legalize parliamentarian constitution (parliamentarian approval, Sept. 2001) and elections for National Assembly.
Summer 03 Start of mass flight from Iraq – sinking into chaos and anarchy after US-invasion - to Syria. Aramaic communities in the Sanjak of Alexandrette give shelter to many thousand Christian refugees.
Number of emigrating Christians from Iraq to Armenia rises to annually about 15 000.
10/13/03 Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan demands reparation by Britain for „Massacre in Istanbul“ (81 years ago). British yellow press makes fun of it.
11/20/03 Istanbul: terrorist attack of Turkish Islamists on British consulate - general and US – bank.
January 04 Armenia expels some NGOs for interference with her internal affairs: dispute between President Kocharyan and US – ambassador.
3/7/04 Elections for the Vouli, the Greek parliament: Nea Dimokratia gains for the first time majority in PASOK – stronghold Ionia.
5/1/04 Treaty of association between EU and Armenia (signed Dec. ´02) effective.
May 04 Laz Crisis: despot of Lazica nearly incites civil war about autonomy status of the republic. Armenia closes her border to Lazica and calls up reservists.
Oct./Nov. 04 Greek parliament unanimously agrees to constitutional amendment: plebiscite about new memberships in EU.
12/17/04 EU summit in Brussels: Greece demands opening of Turkish border to Ionia as soon as negotiations between EU and Turkey will start.
January 05 Construction of 1500 kilometre BYC – pipeline finished (after 28 months).
4/25/05 Turkish leader Erdoğan opens monument and museum in Diyarbakır in Kurdistan in memory of the „Muslim genocide in Eastern Anatolia”.
May 05 US – President G.W. Bush visits Armenia.
7/16/05 TAK (Kurdistan Freedom Falcons) - bomb attack in the tourism centre Kuşadasi. Turkish yellow press suspects Greek competitors to be involved.
8/7/05 Dedication of a monument in New Midyat, Syria in memory of the Aramaean genocide in Tur Abdin 80 years ago (allowed by the Baath – regime in 2003).
12/29/2005 30 000th day of closed Turkish border to Ionia.
January 06 First night of the Turkish hate – movie Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley Of The Wolves) against the Americans, the British and the Armenians.
April 06 Turkish press agitates against „Armenian agents“ after Kurdish riots.
May 06 BYC - pipeline ready for service. Armenia starts to earn transition fees.
5/15/06 Russian army starts transfer of its bases in Georgia to Armenia.
6/12/06 Negotiations about Turkey´s EU – membership start. Greece persists in opening of Turkish border to Ionia.
July 06 Armenia and Greece use mass flight from Lebanon to Cyprus as exercise for planned joint emergency aid (after anti – Christian riots in Beirut in February).
8/14/06 Lebanon rejects Turkish UN troops for „historical reasons“.
10/8/06 Former President Ter – Petrosyan elected as President of Armenia again. Ardartyun – candidate Vasgen Manukyan misses second ballot.
11/19/06 HHS and Armenian Republican Party (HHK) unite to Republican Pan – Armenian Movement (HHHS). Concentration on the left followed by concentration on the right.
Dashnaks leave government after five years.
11/29/06 Pope Benedict XVI. visits Ephesus and is emphatically friendly received at Smyrna´s air port (in contrast to Turkey)
12/2/06 Greece vetoes further negotiations about Turkey´s EU – membership after her repeated rejection to open her border to Ionia. Decision vehemently criticized by the U.S., Britain, Italy and Spain – while France and Germany declare comprehension.
12/5/06 Greece recalls her ambassador in Ankara after Turkish menaces.
12/16/06 Britain sides with Turkey against her traditional ally Greece by declaration of Prime Minister Blair during a short visit in Ankara.
12/19/06 Visit of US – Foreign Secretary Rice in Athens ends in dispute with her Greek colleague Dora Bakogiannis.
12/19/06 Armenia declares to suspend every contact to Turkey if she puts pressure on Greece.
12/21/06 Turkey recalls her ambassador in Athens.
12/29/06 Greek journalist in interview on CNN: „Greece is the cradle of civilization and shall protect it from Turkish barbarism.”
February 07 Muslim riots in Sanjak of Alexandrette against stream of Christian refugees from Iraq.
May 07 Greenpeace activists beaten up by Armenian military police at the Ararat.
5/12/07 Armenia´s new parliamentarian constitution becomes effective by elections for National Assembly: start of the 4th Republic.
Government party HHHS keeps majority. Dashnaks and Communists marginalized.
6/21/07 Vazgen Sargsyan first Armenian Prime Minister elected by National Assembly.
July 07 Armenia visited by China´s President Hu Jintao – underlining her geostrategic importance.
8/17-18/07 Smyrna: Greek inhabitants attack Muslim migrants when they start to riot and kills seven of them. Hundreds of migrants flee Smyrna. International sensation.
8/24-25/07 „Greece is burning!“ Worst forest-fires in the history of the country start.
8/26/07 Olympia successfully defended against conflagration. Media war between Greece and Turkey: Greek conspiracy theories against Turkish pleasure from the fires in Greece.
9/16/07 Elections for the Vouli as the ever lasting duell between the dynasties Karamanlis and Papandreou. Nea Dimokratia keeps majority. Rightist alliance LAOS – EM gains seats.
9/28/07 Vouli puts constitutional amendment of 2004 into operation.
10/11/07 Turkey recalls her ambassador from Washington (for some days) after recognition of the Armenian genocide by committee of US Congress.
10/14/07 Greece officially demands restitution of Elgin Marbles.
10/17/07 Greece defeats Turkey 1-0 in Constantinople.
10/22-23/07 Iranian President Ahmadinejad on state visit in Armenia.
11/19/07 At 6 a.m. after 84 years and 8 days sensational opening of the Ionian border by Turkey – followed by Greece the next day.
11/25/07 „Day of national resistance“ by opposition parties in Turkey. Headquarters of the ruling AKP in Ankara burned down.
11/28/07 Vote of confidence by Turkish National Assembly for Prime Minister Erdoğan – brawls before and after the voting.
12/3/07 Prime minister Erdoğan shot down by follower of the Grey Wolves – dies the next day. Start of clashes between Islamists and nationalists in Turkey´s major cities.
Foreign minister Ali Babacan (aged 40) succeeds Erdoğan.
12/7/07 Dispute in National Security Council between President Gül and Chief of General Staff Büyükanit. Gül imposes state of emergency over major cities to suppress street fights between nationalists and Islamists. Military coup seems imminent well into the next day.
12/14/07 EU summit in Brussels decides to reopen negotiations about Turkey´s EU – membership. Erdoğan praised as a „Great European“.
12/23/07 Riots in front of EU´s embassy in Ankara and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Patriarch Bartholomew flees to Greek consulate.


 
An EU in a TL with a 1920 POD?

Events very, very similar to OTL by 2007?

No butterflies, the format isn't the best, and the TL is biased in regards to the Armenian thing (Abdul should comment on that, he has more experience in these matters).
 

Susano

Banned
Armenia?:eek:

Head for the bunkers!

Apart from that I agree with LI. The format is a random mix of events, and not well ordered, and it lacks Butterflied. Mind, my first attempts (which I never translated from German for just that reason :D ) were not much better, so I guess we can simply explain it as a newbie piece ;)
 
I'd say get out the Ignore Lists like - well, now! This guy reeks of a troll to me. In the meantime, I'll wait for Abdul to rip this one to shreds.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
I'd say get out the Ignore Lists like - well, now! This guy reeks of a troll to me. In the meantime, I'll wait for Abdul to rip this one to shreds.

Crap, he just thinks that the Armenian Genocide happened, like 95 precent of all Westerner with an interest in the Middleeast, while I don't know enough about it to take a discussion about it, it's still a legitime opinion to have.
 
I think an explenation is in order for this new member.

Fritzchen, this site has a number of Turkish members, many of whom claim that the Armenian Genocide did not occur, or that if anything happened, then that it happened on a very small scale.

One of them, Abdul Habi Pasha, is a very well-liked guy, who is a very active poster in a number of other issues, and has convinced some non-Turks of his side of the arguement. Heck, I find him quite likeable.

They'll likely come after you for this TL, so be warned. The subject of the Armenian Genocide has become a bit of an avoided topic on this forum since they're so agressive about it.

It's kind of sad that the topic has become something so poisonous to all rational discussion. :(

It seems to me that no one is going to be convincing anyone if their arguements rapidly degenerate into personal insults!
 

MrP

Banned
I think an explenation is in order for this new member.

Fritzchen, this site has a number of Turkish members, many of whom claim that the Armenian Genocide did not occur, or that if anything happened, then that it happened on a very small scale.

One of them, Abdul Habi Pasha, is a very well-liked guy, who is a very active poster in a number of other issues, and has convinced some non-Turks of his side of the arguement.

They'll likely come after you for this TL, so be warned. The subject of the Armenian Genocide has become a bit of an avoided topic on this forum since they're so agressive about it.

It's kind of sad that the topic has become something so poisonous to all rational discussion. :(

It seems to me that no one is going to be convincing anyone if their arguements rapidly degenerate into personal insults!

I wouldn't say that AHP says it was small scale. He's merely said (to summarise from memory) that the numbers of dead are in excess of how many were around (I think he's suggested 600,000 dead in the relocations, which isn't small potatoes by anyone's reckoning), pointed out that it was a disaster caused by inability rather than malice (rather like the British Concentration Camps in the Boer War), and encouraged people (er, perhaps rather pointedly) to check original sources rather than rely on more modern (and perhaps biased) interpretations of the facts.

But, aye, this is a tinderbox waiting for a match.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
Crap, he just thinks that the Armenian Genocide happened, like 95 precent of all Westerner with an interest in the Middleeast, while I don't know enough about it to take a discussion about it, it's still a legitime opinion to have.
I don't think he's trolling, but it's a bit more complicated than that.

What if … the Armenian genocide had not been what it was in the OTL: a Turkish success?
:confused: It was such a success, in fact, that after the war, the Turks sentenced the men who were responsible for it to death.

Let's face the facts here - even the most incorrigible Turkish nationalist will admit that there were massacres, that the deportation of Armenians from eastern Anatolia was a bad move, to put it lightly, and that the whole episode was one of the darkest periods in their history. They will stop at agreeing that the Turks deliberately set out to eliminate the Armenians, which brings us to our next sentence:

The Turks and their Kurdish accomplices bled Armenia nearly to death and could finally mutilate her to a territory around Yerevan – about a tenth of historic Armenia.
Anyone who has studied the history of the Turks and the Kurds would pause at the formulation of this sentence. The Kurds went against the Armenians for their own reasons - there was no love lost between them - and required no prompting from the Turks.

Turks and others who have actually bothered to comb through the morass of vitriol that has been wasted on this subject are hesitant to attribute genocidal intentions to the Young Turks at this time simply because there is absolutely no evidence that they intended to exterminate the Armenians. It is true that hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished during this time, due to massacres and famine, but so did Turks and Kurds who lived in the same region, and in equal proportions. It was a warzone in the frontier between two crumbling empires. I think these facts alone speak volumes.

The term "historic Armenia" is also deliberately (and misleadingly) vague. Historically, Armenia has not been ten times the size of its present day area since the days of Tigran the Great (83-69 CE - that's right, all of 14 years over two millennia ago). If the feverish dreams of the most irrational Armenian irredentist were to be granted, and Armenia extended over 300,000 km, that's a territory the size of the Philippines, and I'd be very surprised if Armenians composed a quarter of the population there before the Holocaust, if even that.

The author himself seems to acknowledge this with his final solution to ethnically cleanse eastern Anatolia of its undesirable (Muslim) elements:

4/25/21 “Great Flight” of about one million Turks and Kurds.

September 41 Turks left in Eastern Armenia (region of Ardahan) concentrated. NKVD evacuates population from Nakhichevan.

November 44 Deportation of the Trancaucasian Turks from Eastern Armenia and of the Laz to Central Asia. Laz autonomous republic abolished.

January 90 Flight of Armenians from Azerbaijan - Azeris displaced from Armenia.
and so on... I probably missed a few but my eyes are bleeding from the small type.

I found this amusing:
August 48 Armed Aramaic resistance in Tur Abdin against resettlement brutally suppressed by Turkish forces and Kurdish gangs. Clashes between Turkish and Arabian resettlers.
Nov./Dec. 48 Syria settles Aramaeans from Tur Abdin in Sanjak of Alexandrette.


This OTL – scenario was, like so many others, not determinate at all. When the Turks attacked Armenia in late 1920 the Armenians - respectively the ruling Dashnaks - did them the favour to cling to the hope of Allied aid and to defend desperately an independence, after 543 years without an Armenian state, they couldn´t maintain against superior enemy forces.
Two problems: to start with, the Dashnaks were just one party in a coalition government, albeit the majority. Second of all, the Armenians were undeniably being supplied and supported by the Russians.

If they had confessed this to themselves and if they had sacrificed the interest of their party for the nation´s one - and had been as lucky as the Turks were in the OTL while doing this - the outcome might have been different with the saving of a united, yet not independent Armenia.
I'm not quite sure what this entails. What were they confessing to themselves?

If on the other hand the Turks had failed to crush the project of a united Armenia the effects not only on Armenia but also on Greece, Pontus and Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon and the British – Turkish relations would have been not such pleasant for them.
Pleasant for whom? The Turks or everyone else?

I just can't buy into some of these assumptions. This scenario seems even more dystopian than the OTL, if that's imaginable.
 
I wouldn't say that AHP says it was small scale. He's merely said (to summarise from memory) that the numbers of dead are in excess of how many were around (I think he's suggested 600,000 dead in the relocations, which isn't small potatoes by anyone's reckoning), pointed out that it was a disaster caused by inability rather than malice (rather like the British Concentration Camps in the Boer War), and encouraged people (er, perhaps rather pointedly) to check original sources rather than rely on more modern (and perhaps biased) interpretations of the facts.

But, aye, this is a tinderbox waiting for a match.

Sorry if I caused confusion - when I wrote that, I meant to say that their view was that it happened on a smaller scale than the popularly accepted view seems to see it as occuring.

I understood what AHP's position is as well - I just was trying to explain a complicated topic in a brief manner, and I guess I sort of failed at that with my phrasing.

As for the case of what actually happened, I freely admit that I do not know enough about what happened to have a legitimate opinion in the matter. I like AHP quite a bit, after all. I have read some stuff on it, but I think I should refrain from commenting, since I haven't actually read that many original documents. It's just a little hard to find them, especially when you don't read Turkish!
 

Fritzchen

Banned
RCTFI – who do you think you are???!!! You tell me about Turkish members and about one (Abdul the Bloodthirsty or sth.) who is unbelievably popular (in particular with you ... ;)) and that these Turks become very aggressive about one subject and that it´s therefore forbidden to mention it on this site – Do you really think I give a damn??? Do you really think I care??? Who do you think I am??? You´re obviously a little creeping Turkophile worm and you´re simply disgusting me.

They'll likely come after you for this TL, so be warned.


A sorry figure like you should at least not warn ME and don´t confound the coward you are with ME.

I think this explanation was in order for YOU.

So much for that. While all the replies to my post are just crap and not worth answering I nevertheless decided to pick one to fire back, and yes, it´s your turn Mr Caesius – Kinbote.

It was such a success, in fact, that after the war, the Turks sentenced the men who were responsible for it to death.

All right and because the Turks couldn´t catch the few butchers among them they sent the Nemesis – Operation to track them down. Congratulations, you shot the bird.:p

Let's face the facts here - even the most incorrigible Turkish nationalist will admit that there were massacres, that the deportation of Armenians from eastern Anatolia was a bad move, to put it lightly, and that the whole episode was one of the darkest periods in their history. [/QUOTE

Turkish nationalists and not only the “most incorrigible” claim that there was a genocide: against Turks by Armenians – and not vice versa. Name your facts in Turkey and you´ll find out what article 301 is – so I don´t have to explain it to you.

You quote me
The Turks and their Kurdish accomplices

Commenting
Anyone who has studied the history of the Turks and the Kurds would pause at the formulation of this sentence. The Kurds went against the Armenians for their own reasons - there was no love lost between them - and required no prompting from the Turks.

So what? Anyone who understands history a little bit and is not suffering from your brilliant skills in analysing motives will not pause and knows that of course you don´t have to be in love with someone to be an accomplice – it´s enough to share an interest maybe for different reasons and at times even with the enemy of the past and the future. That´s not worth mentioning.

Now in medias res.
Turks and others who have actually bothered to comb through the morass of vitriol that has been wasted on this subject are hesitant to attribute genocidal intentions to the Young Turks at this time simply because there is absolutely no evidence that they intended to exterminate the Armenians.


Really? Come on – there´s not one single minor evidence?

Mustafa Kemal Pasha (later known as „Atatürk“) on 9/29/1915: „All the Armenians living in Turkey are to be destroyed and annihilated ... without taking into consideration the fact that they are women and children and disabled, their very existence will be ended, regardless of how terrible the means of destruction may be, and without being moved by feelings of compassion.”

Okay, I must admit that MKP was not a member of the government at the time and that he fought like a lion against the slaughter of his Armenian brothers and sisters day and night. But what´s about others? Let´s take a look.

Nazim Bey, General Secretary of the ruling CUP: „It´s absolutely necessary to exterminate the Armenian people completely, so that there is not one Armenian left on our soil and the notion ´Armenia´ will be extinguished. We´re now at war and there´s no better opportunity than this.”

Talaat Pasha on 2/2/1915: „The war is the opportunity for a settlement with the interior enemies, the Christian minorities.“

German ambassador von Wangenheim on 7/7/1915: „The aim of the deportations is to annihilate the Armenian race in the Turkish Empire.“

Talaat Pascha to Wangenheim on 8/31/1915: „There does not exist an ´Armenian question´ any more.

I could sit here and quote until Christmas but now it´s time to turn to your finest remark.
It is true that hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished during this time, due to massacres and famine, but so did Turks and Kurds who lived in the same region, and in equal proportions. It was a warzone in the frontier between two crumbling empires. I think these facts alone speak volumes.


No these facts speak neither alone nor combined volumes. Hundred of thousands of Turks and Kurds died in WWI – for example by epidemics spread by deported and dieing Armenians – and so there was no genocide against the Armenians. That´s a brilliant argument – which I found amusing.
But unfortunately there are not only strange arguments (caused by eye bleeding?) but your “facts” as well.

Two problems: to start with, the Dashnaks were just one party in a coalition government, albeit the majority. Second of all, the Armenians were undeniably being supplied and supported by the Russians.


I´m more modest than you and I have only one problem with this, the problem with your poor knowledge about the facts.
- There was a coalition government until May 1919 when the Liberals (Ramkavars) left it, leaving the poor Dashnaks alone in office. And believe it or not, Caesiuskinbote – it was not even such a problem! In the elections in June 1919 the Dashnaks gained 72 of the 80 seats in the National Assembly. So take your coalition government and put it where it is hidden best.
- Bolshevik Russia was allied with Kemalist Turkey against “Western imperialism” – it was definitely not allied with the “puppet state of Western imperialism”: Armenia.

And now I´m fed up. Therefore I´ll not comment your intellectual disability to understand the connection between the statement in one sentence and the following sentence or even simply to understand the statement in one single sentence.

Finally I beg your pardon and humbly advise you to be a bit more cautious or just be better informed before giving a lecture to anyone next time. An idiot like you giving lectures makes one either puke or laugh.

SORRY GUYS, YOU´LL HAVE TO DISPENSE WITH MY POSTS IN THE FUTUTRE. DON´T CRY. IT´S AWFULLY STINKING FOR TURKOPHILES & TURKS HERE AND SO I HAVE TO DISAPPEAR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
 
Until the last post, I was willing to give Fritzchen (Little Fritz) the benefit of doubt, but after it, it seems more trollish then before.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
Until the last post, I was willing to give Fritzchen (Little Fritz) the benefit of doubt, but after it, it seems more trollish then before.
I didn't bother reading all of his response, since he went out of his way to compose it in the most annoying possible form (Even Worse Than The Guy Who Talks Like Thiis), but it seems that part of it was addressed to me, that he seemed to lose it in a big way, and that he is now threatening to leave us for good.

I for one will lovingly bubble wrap his knick-knacks and hold the door so that it won't hit him on the ass on his way out.
 
I don't exactly agree with what the guy's saying, but I think history should be viewed objectively. All of this "He'll come after you for this" and the like seems pretty dangerous to me. I hope it isn't true, because I'd be pretty dissappointed with the forum if it is.
 
I'd say get out the Ignore Lists like - well, now! This guy reeks of a troll to me. In the meantime, I'll wait for Abdul to rip this one to shreds.

My point of view is about the same as Leo's - except that I would add that almost universally forgotten is that the Armenians massacred an equal or larger number of Muslims in this period - which is why what is now Armenia went from being 50% Muslim to close to 0%, and the Muslim population of the Van province declined by 70%.

The author even goes so far as to take a quote by Adolf Hitler and attributes it to Ataturk, who has gone on record many times saying that what was done to the Armenians was the darkest episode in Ottoman/Turkish history.

I wouldn't call this guy a troll, just an extreme Armenian nationalist - unfortunately, he's not really that unusual, and this is typical of the all-consuming hatred to which many Armenians have abandoned themselves. If his user name and location make him German, that is even more disturbing, and the use of a Hitler quote beyond even that.

I just find him sad and pathetic, and suggest an intevention: Let's all put him on ignore so that we aren't enabling his hatred. I'll start.
 

Leo Caesius

Banned
I doubt very much that he's actually German - for starters, he uses the day-month-year system for dates, which is characteristically American. For that matter, I don't even know if he's the real author of this piece or if it's just a massive cut and paste job.

Let's face it, it's a shit TL, even beyond its contentious subject. The POD is in WWI and yet everything afterwards just goes pretty much according to time. I pointed out a few other things that were wrong with it, and he basically lost it. If he can't take even the slightest criticism at all without blowing a gasket, then perhaps he's right - this isn't the right place for him.
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Until the last post, I was willing to give Fritzchen (Little Fritz) the benefit of doubt, but after it, it seems more trollish then before.

I agree with LordInsane, but that Fritzchen is an ass doesn't change that this is a legitimate subject, and we shouldn't just declare that people are trolls for writing about it (even if their timeline sucks). To believe that the Armenian Genocide happen shouldn't be treated as either trolling or revisionistic history.
 
I doubt very much that he's actually German - for starters, he uses the day-month-year system for dates, which is characteristically American. For that matter, I don't even know if he's the real author of this piece or if it's just a massive cut and paste job.

he uses mm/dd/yy system, which is American. Germans, like rest of sensible world, uses dd/mm/yy system
 
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